1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical connector, and a method of inserting and removing the optical connector into/from a connector housing (optical connector adapter or the like).
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-198969, filed Sep. 6, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a multi-core optical connector (for example, an MPO type optical connector: F13 type optical connector established in JIS C5982) which engages a connector housing (optical connector adapter or the like) by a push-on method is used (for example, refer to United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/285534).
Since adjacent connector housings are close to each other in an optical wiring board or the like in which the connector housings are arranged with a high density, it becomes difficult to insert fingers between optical connectors, and it becomes difficult to perform an insertion and removal operation of an optical connector (for example, the operation of gripping and moving rearward a coupling to remove an optical connector).
For this reason, an optical connector is proposed, in which an engagement member engageable with the coupling is provided and this engagement member is provided with an operating stick which extends rearward.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the optical connector provided with the operating stick. The optical connector 110 shown in the figure includes a connector main body 1 which has a ferrule 12 attached to a tip of the optical fiber 11, a coupling 2, an engagement member 103 engageable with the coupling 2, a boot 104, and an operating stick 105 which extends rearward from the engagement member 103.
An extending end of the operating stick 105 is formed with a head portion 105a for operation. The operating stick 105 is formed at a position deviated from the central axis of the optical connector 110 in order to avoid interfering with an optical fiber 11. Reference numeral 7 designates an optical connector adapter into/from which the optical connector 110 is inserted and removed.
In the optical connector 110, when the operating stick 105 is pulled rearward, the coupling 2 moves rearward along with the engagement member 103. Therefore, the latches 72 of the optical connector adapter 7 are released, and the optical connector 110 is removed from the optical connector adapter 7.
When the operating stick 105 is pushed forward, the engagement member 103 moves the connector main body 1 forward to insert the connector main body 1 into the optical connector adapter 7, and the latches 72 engage engagement recesses 15b of the connector main body 1.
However, in the optical connector 110, the head portion 105a of the operating stick 105 is formed at the position deviated from the central axis of the optical connector 110. Therefore, when the operating stick 105 is operated, there is a concern that a force in a direction which inclines with respect to the axial direction is applied to the optical connector 110.
Additionally, since the operating stick 105 is at the position deviated from the central axis of the optical connector 110, it is hard for an operator to recognize the tip position of the optical connector 110, and particularly, it is hard to perform the operation of inserting the optical connector 110 into the optical connector adapter 7.
The invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and the object thereof is to provide an optical connector and an insertion and removal method of the optical connector in which an excessive force is not applied to the optical connector, and the workability of an insertion and removal operation is improved when an optical connector is inserted into or removed from a connector housing.